Two represenetatives from a New York-based landscape architecture firm visited Haines from May 18 to May 23 to meet with residents, present plans for the Portage Cove Waterfront trail and, as they told the group at their Monday-night presentation, answer the question “Who are you and why are you here?”
The trail will connect Picture Point to the harbor to Port Chilkoot Cruise Ship Dock and Portage Cove campground.
Tatiana Choulika and Colin Curley are architects at James Corner Field Operations (JCFO), a prestigious architectural firm that has built green-space parks primarily in urban areas, mostly notably the High Line Park in New York City and Seattle Central Waterfront Park.
The two were invited last month when the Haines Borough Assembly approved a multi-stakeholder partnership for the trail.
Including the borough, who heads the project; proHNS, a design engineering firm the borough contracted in December to engineer the trail; the Alaska Arts Confluence paid for JCFO to come to Haines using a national arts grant to dovetail off proHNS designs and incorporate local art into the trail; Chilkoot Indian Association, whose federal transportation grant money will pay for trail construction.
Audience questions Monday night centered on JCFO past works’ applicability to Haines, timeframe, funding and community engagement opportunities.
“What are the advantages and disadvantages you see for Haines with our waterfront compared to New York City and Seattle?” Janine Allen asked Monday night.
Choulika said that trail development in Haines might be a benefit in future planning if the town continues to grow. “It seems to us from talking to many people that Haines is at a point where it might grow very fast,” she said. “Here is a chance to think about it and make it the best it can be. The people of Haines have to want the best future for this place, we are just facilitators.”
Zack James ask how the community can offer suggests and feedback to the designers.
Choulika said the firm will use physical and digital models to represent what goals might look like. “When we get back, we’ll start drawing what we think we heard,” she said. “We’re going to try to draw it, send it back and say ‘Did we get it right?’ and then slowly people are going to see a picture take shape.”
The two will return next month to present their plan.
Throughout the week, the architects met with local artists to receive input at two separate salons at the Haines Sheldon Museum and the Chilkoot Indian Association. They also met with CIA Transportation Coordinators and Haines Borough Assembly members.
Borough manager Debra Schnabel asked who typically contracts JCFO.
Choulika said they are often contracted by a given state’s department of transportation.
Without a scope of work, Choulika said she couldn’t guess at the timeframe for the Portage Cove Trail, though many of JCFO’s projects have taken up to ten years, delayed by seeking a community’s consensus for ideas and funding.
For funding, state, city and private donor money has “come in bits and pieces” for past projects, and often trails—like the High Line—are built in sections, Choulika said. She added that JCFO has helped fundraising efforts with presentations and has even hired an economic consultant to analyze a project’s contribution to a community’s economy. “Every project we’ve done has really been great for the economy,” she said.
For feedback and input on the project, residents can email Alaskaartsconfluence.org, direct comments to the borough, or join a “Friends of Portage Cove” Facebook group due to launch this week.